ponsaelius

In normal circumstances where we didn't have FFP and we had unlimited resources then I'd agree just refuse any bid until it got to stupid money. However our theoretical infinite resources are artificially limited by the restrictions in place. We need to sell players to keep moving forward and to keep signing players, otherwise we are going to be hamstrung. From an accounting perspective even a £20 million sale can unlock significant investment in the transfer market. This is why we have to consider selling aging players, even if they're influential like Trippier is. By the time next season starts he is 34. I'm convinced it would look like a good sale in hindsight if it went through, even if painful in the short term.

I disagree with this. MGW is definitely technically gifted and his game - first touch, ball carrying, dribbling past players, outside of the foot passing - is fundamentally similar to Paqueta. There's an argument that Paqueta is smoother and easier on the eye, but I'd have more faith in MGW in other positions due to being quicker. Both of them have the same deficiencies in terms of shooting IMO.

I'm not sure you could run a National League club selling tickets for less than £20 a pop. Most (if not all) at that level charge around that or more.

FFP means we can't do that though. We can't just let the likes of Almiron and Wilson run down their contracts down to leave for nowt. We have to extract value while we can like we did with Wood. It's frustrating and sad from a sentimental point of view but it's the way we are going to have to operate.

If Murphy had been the one fit and firing at the moment there would probably have been a market for him from other PL clubs and I have no doubt he'd have possibly been the one out of the door instead. People have to start to understand that the club will effectively be open to selling anybody on now to get the squad to where it needs to be and when the market is there we will be ruthless. FFP encourages it but we'd have probably done it anyway and it's how all well ran clubs operate. We cannot afford not to sell players. Any player hitting that 28/29 bracket where is at that prime point to go we will be open to sell. These kind of moves reduces the likelihood of Botman/Bruno/Isak needing to go at their peak.

I love the lad but if we can get an inflated fee for him at this stage of his career it's good business. In a years time there will basically be no market for him. People need to put the sentimentality aside and trust the club here IMO - they're operated shrewdly and ruthlessly.

At the moment you could possibly still get £15-20 million for him from Saudi or another PL club even. Bit less maybe back to MLS. That could open us up to bring in a couple of players. From this summer onwards his value will fall towards nothing. We need to get good at selling. This feels scrambled the way it's leaking but it's just us operating to get the squad where it needs to be long term.

The players that are linked with going are at the point where their value is right at the point before it goes completely. As much as it feels weird, from a pragmatic point of view getting rid of the likes of Trippier, Wilson, Almiron now actually makes a huge amount of sense from a business point of view. I'd also say it suggests that we are at least trying to be active in the transfer market.

You won't get significantly more than that for a player of his age and wages though. Just doesn't happen. It's not a lot in real terms but it could open up wiggle room for potentially two signings.

It won't be anywhere near that for a 33 year old. Pretty sure other than Ronaldo nobody at that age has ever gone for anywhere near that kind of fee. If we got 10-15 we'd have done very well.

I don't want Trippier to go personally as he's been inspirational for us since he joined, is still one of our best players, and ideally we'd have another 18 months of him playing at the top level for us before Livramento takes over as first choice. However there's definitely been something not right with him for the last couple of months. And there has been signs there every now and again of his inevitable decline that will come eventually. He is 34 at the start of next season after all. Don't like a loan deal - but if we got a solid fee of sone kind and his big wages off the books which unlocked 1-2 signings I wouldn't blame the club at all for doing it.

Fascinated that Saudi Pro League average attendances, despite all the signings (and Al-Ahli being back in the top flight), are down from 9500 to 8500 this season. Football loving nation indeed.

We won't have got a fee. It'll just have finally reached the point where it's worth it for Manquillo to write off the last 6 months of his wages here to secure a long term deal in Spain.

I like Kalvin Phillips and think he'd be a good stopgap but if City are genuinely asking for £7 million loan fee plus an obligation to buy for £30-40 million then that is an absolute piss take tbf and we should stay well clear. He's been a total flop for them, had injuries, and is now approaching 29 in the summer. They'd be making a profit FFS at that valuation - which is absurd particularly in the current market vacuum created by FFP. He's a career reconstruction job and any club that takes him off their hands is doing them a favour. A small loan fee with a reasonable fixed buy option in the summer would be more than fair.

This is all we have to play for now this season really. They better fucking turn up.

Has there been a season with more kicks in the bollocks than this one? Absolutely relentless. As soon as it showed 3 mins I was absolutely convinced they would score with the next attack.

This season has been a complete joke for the most part. What a waste of time.

I don't agree that the domestic market is bad value. In a world where every signing is ultimately a gamble that can leave you hamstrung by FFP, signing a player for £30-35 million from England can be much less of a risk than a punt for £15-20m from Europe. More likely the player adapts to the area/team/culture/physicality and it is easier to do due diligence on player's background through existing agent/player networks (Tonali cough cough). But perhaps more crucially there is a safety net in terms of resale value to the host of other wealthy PL clubs - both if they flop and if they excel. Foreign players (Europe/South America) there is undoubtedly better value to be found - but it's also just as likely you get a flop that you may end up giving away for nowt. It's about being open to all markets, but including a significant amount of domestic players in your recruitment is not a bad thing. Certainly not anymore considering the quality of English players and the overall talent level in PL/Championship.

Saka got 25 goals/assists in the league alone last year. He is on target for exactly the same again. You can't really get a more consistent output. Arsenal's bigger problem is at CF.

Firmino went on a free, so that wouldn't be much use

Boring as fuck. Both a ground I've been too and a pretty tricky game.

I wouldn't want to sell Longstaff but the issue with FFP is it actually encourages clubs to sell homegrown players for accounting purposes. A big fee for Longstaff (25 mill say) would free up breathing space for a load of signings. There's no doubt the club are going to consider the sale of pretty much all of our players depending on the interest and fees involved. That's the reality of where we're at.

Worth it if it meant we could have 6k there but obviously should not be the norm. Just let people make their own way to the match.

I've seen a lot of the mackems have made out this was the 'first of the new derby' because of our ownership. Putting aside that daft argument it actually did feel to me noticeably different to all the other derbies in my lifetime. The tone was set from the first seconds when they gave the ball straight to us. It genuinely felt like a cup match against a lower league side, with us dominating the ball on opposition soil, killing the contest and ultimately winning with ease. It was a very weird experience tbh. I was nervous obviously but it definitely didn't feel like it had anywhere near the jeopardy of previous years because of the gulf in class. This inevitably also changed the feel of the atmosphere as well. Our support enjoying a lot of rather nerveless triumphalism, their support stoically singing 'sunlun till I die' for 90 mins as if the on-field result was secondary to off-field matters. Unless there is drastic changes in ownership or Sunderland can establish themselves as a mid-table PL side it could be decades until we have a normal derby again.

I liked Colo and would have been interested to see him in a good team but Schar is a better defender and footballer. Colo had basically years where he was a disgrace performance wise which massively soured the good years.